Welcome to the final edition of our look at the race for the Big Ten All-Conference team. I’ve been doing this every 2 weeks to provide an evolving snapshot in part to see how dramatically things change over the course of the season. We’re somehow almost halfway through the season already. If you missed the week 12 picks you can check them out here.
Below are my picks and a quick recap of the decisions at each position. In order to provide the stat breakdowns I used some shorthand abbreviations. Any use of “yards” includes combined non-sack passing/rushing/receiving yards. Similarly TDs are combined passing/rushing/receiving/return touchdowns. Acronyms that might not be completely clear are: Yards per Attempt (YPA), Big-Time Throw Rate (BTT Rate), Turnover-Worthy Play Rate (TWP Rate), MTF (Missed Tackles Forced), YPC (Yards per Carry), Y/RR (Yards per Route Run), Stops (tackles on unsuccessful plays by the offense).
*Player was also on the week 12 all-conference team (not necessarily on same 1st, 2nd, or 3rd team)
Quarterback
1st Team: Fernando Mendoza* (Indiana)- 3,024 yds, 9.3 YPA, 36 TD, 5 INT, 5.7% BTT Rate, 2.5% TWP Rate
2nd Team: Julian Sayin* (Ohio St)- 3,109 yds, 9.4 YPA, 30 TD, 5 INT, 5.3% BTT Rate, 1.4% TWP Rate
3rd Team: Dante Moore (USC)- 3,010 yds, 8.7 YPA, 25 TD, 6 INT, 6.4% BTT Rate, 2.2% TWP Rate
The battle between 1st and 2nd team here is extremely hotly contested and it’s very possible that Saturday’s clash between the undefeated squads in the Big Ten title game ends up deciding the Heisman. Their numbers are virtually identical except Mendoza has 6 more total touchdowns while Sayin has a lower turnover rate. I’m giving the nod to Mendoza. It has been a battle between Dante Moore and Jayden Maiava for the 3rd team spot over the back half of the season but Moore pulls ahead at the end in part thanks to their head-to-head win since the last time I did these rankings.
Running Back
1st Team: Emmett Johnson* (Nebraska)- 1,821 yds, 15 TD, 68 MTF, 5.8 YPC; Kaytron Allen* (Penn State)- 1,371 yds, 15 TD, 57 MTF, 6.2 YPC
2nd Team: Antwan Raymond* (Rutgers)- 1,463 yds, 15 TD, 77 MTF, 5.1 YPC; Bo Jackson (Ohio State)- 1,134 yds, 6 TD, 30 MTF, 6.3 YPC
3rd Team: Jonah Coleman* (Washington)- 1,017 yds, 16 TD, 30 MTF, 4.6 YPC; Jordan Marshall* (Michigan)- 1,024 yds, 10 TDs, 33 MTF 6.2 YPC
Kaytron Allen was barely holding on as the last 3rd teamer for most of the season but ran for 567 yards with 5 TDs on 8.2 YPC over Penn State’s final 3 games to surge ahead into 1st team status. It is still close between him and Rutgers’ Antwan Raymond but I’m giving Allen the edge by averaging more than a yard per carry better. True freshman Bo Jackson for Ohio State also finished strong to get onto the 2nd team surpassing the injured Jonah Coleman and Michigan’s Jordan Marshall.
Wide Receiver
1st Team: Makai Lemon* (USC)- 1,173 yds, 14 TD, 3.1 Y/RR; Jeremiah Smith* (Ohio St)- 962 yds, 12 TD, 3.3 Y/RR; Omar Cooper Jr.* (Indiana)- 878 yds, 12 TD, 2.7 Y/RR
2nd Team: KJ Duff* (Rutgers)- 1,084 yds, 7 TD, 2.5 Y/RR; Carnell Tate* (Ohio St)- 793 yds, 8 TD, 3.5 Y/RR; Hank Beatty* (Illinois)- 867 yds, 6 TD, 2.7 Y/RR
3rd Team: Denzel Boston* (Washington)- 755 yds, 12 TD, 2.3 Y/RR; Griffin Wilde* (Northwestern)- 783 yds, 6 TD, 2.3 Y/RR; Ian Strong (Rutgers)- 762 yds, 5 TD, 2.1 Y/RR
I only made one change here across the entire group of 3 teams and that was to move Ian Strong into the 3rd team spot over Indiana’s Elijah Sarrat. I’m already regretting the move but not going to change it now. Strong has about 125 yards on Sarrat but way fewer touchdowns. I expect that to be flipped on an actual all-conference team. Otherwise, this is a pretty clearcut group. KJ Duff maybe has an argument on the 1st team since he’s second in yardage but his yards per route run are lower than everyone I have on the 1st team and he has scored at least 5 fewer touchdowns than each.
Tight End
1st Team: Kenyon Sadiq* (Oregon)- 490 yds, 8 TD, 2.0 Y/RR
2nd Team: Lake McRee* (USC)- 445 yds, 4 TD, 1.5 Y/RR
3rd Team: Lance Mason (Wisconsin)- 398 yds, 4 TD, 1.9 Y/RR
I’ve been flip-flopping between Lance Mason and Riley Nowakowski for the 3rd team spot for several editions now but settled in on Mason thanks to his strong efficiency numbers. Finishing second in the conference in yards per route run to Kenyon Sadiq while playing in Wisconsin’s passing game says something.
Offensive Line
1st Team: LT Carter Smith* (Indiana); LG Beau Stephens* (Iowa); C Logan Jones* (Iowa); RG- Kade Pieper* (Iowa); RT Gennings Dunker* (Iowa)
2nd Team: Trevor Lauck (Iowa); LG Emmanuel Pregnon* (Oregon); C Matt Gulbin* (Michigan State); RG Evan Beerntsen* (Northwestern); Nolan Rucci (Penn State)
3rd Team: LT JC Davis (Illinois)*; LG Vega Ioane* (Penn State); C Pat Coogan (Indiana); RG- Kwabena Asomoah* (Rutgers); RT Alan Herron* (Maryland)
Once again, I’m pretty up front with the offensive line that I just go off of PFF grades because there’s no way for me to scout the OL and the stats from other sources for individual linemen are even sketchier. My criteria were that I pick the highest graded player at each line spot who has played the majority of their snaps at that position.
There were only 2 changes in the final edition here with Iowa’s LT Trevor Lauck moving up from out of the honors to 2nd team (really? we needed another Hawkeye?) and Penn State’s RT Nolan Rucci also moving up to 2nd team. That means Iowa’s OL graded 2nd, 1st, 1st, 1st, and 1st from PFF. They had 3 clear all-conference contenders in the preseason but even the new starters ended up being fantastic.
Washington ended up getting close but not quite. Carver Willis, John Mills, and Drew Azzopardi all ended up 5th in the conference at their respective spots. It should be a promising start towards next season that 2 of the 3 are set to return.
Defensive Tackle
1st Team: Kayden McDonald* (Ohio St)- 44 tackles, 10 pressures, 2 sacks, 26 stops; Bear Alexander* (Oregon)- 40 tackles, 14 pressures, 5 TFL, 29 stops
2nd Team: Tyrique Tucker* (Indiana)- 24 tackles, 22 pressures, 6 sacks, 17 stops; Aaron Graves* (Iowa)- 27 tackles, 19 pressures, 5 sacks, 17 stops
3rd Team: Gary Smith III (UCLA)- 39 tackles, 5 pressures, 25 stops, Alex VanSumeren (Michigan State)- 47 tackles, 2 sacks, 22 stops
I ended up swapping out both members of the 3rd team here but it really is a logjam after you get past the first few options so I wouldn’t fault anyone for making different choices here. Both Smith and VanSumeren have been good players for not good teams so it’s nice to get them some recognition but I’m expecting bigger names will end up making the final list.
Edge Rusher
1st Team: Caden Curry* (Ohio State)- 45 tackles, 38 pressures, 9 sacks, 33 stops; Derrick Moore* (Michigan)- 26 tackles, 40 pressures, 11 sacks, 19 stops, 2 forced fumbles
2nd Team: Gabe Jacas* (Illinois)- 26 tackles, 42 pressures, 11 sacks, 28 stops, 3 forced fumbles; Mason Reiger (Wisconsin)- 37 tackles, 45 pressures, 6 sacks, 20 stops
3rd Team: Dani Dennis-Sutton* (Penn State)- 35 tackles, 45 pressures, 6 sacks, 25 stops, 2 forced fumbles; Teitum Tuioti* (Oregon)- 48 tackles, 26 pressures, 8 sacks, 39 stops
There’s a big change here as one of my 1st team choices from last week, Anthony Smith of Minnesota, falls completely out of the rankings. How? One of my criteria is that I eliminate from consideration players in the bottom 3rd of the PFF grades to try to prevent players who put up huge numbers in a major category at the expense of the rest of their job. That knocks out Smith who leads the conference in sacks but has been bad enough on run defense and missed tackles that it knocks him out of consideration overall. Sorry, Anthony but those are the ground rules I set.
That opened the door for Ohio State’s Caden Curry on the 1st team who is #1 in PFF grade among Big Ten edge players and also has the counting stats to back that up. Mason Reiger ends up taking the vacated spot overall with a move up from unranked to 2nd team following a strong finish to the season.
Linebacker
1st Team: Daniel Wingate* (Maryland)- 109 tackles, 14 pressures, 6 TFL, 44 stops, 1 INT; Sonny Styles* (Ohio State)- 73 tackles, 39 stops, 1 INT, 3 PBU
2nd Team: Mac Uihlein (Northwestern)- 88 tackles, 40 stops, 4 INT; Bryce Boettcher (Oregon)- 97 tackles, 2 sacks, 37 stops, 1 INT
3rd Team: Javin Wright (Nebraska)- 78 tackles, 6 TFL, 1 INT; Arvell Reese* (Ohio St)- 54 tackles, 23 pressures, 8 sacks, 31 stops
There continues to still be heavy movement here as it is tough to decide what to value the most highly at the linebacker spot. I ended up essentially picking the top 2 tacklers, top 2 coverage linebackers, and top 2 pass rushing linebackers and distributing them throughout the list. This one gives me a headache.
Cornerback
1st Team: D’Angelo Ponds* (Indiana)- 43.6% comp, 7.1 Y/REC, 1 INT, 6 PBU; John Nestor* (Minnesota)- 61.8% comp, 8.6 Y/REC, 5 INT, 6 PBU; Zach Lutmer* (Iowa)- 58.3% comp, 8.7 Y/REC, 3 INT, 6 PBU
2nd Team: Jadon Canady* (Oregon)- 45.5% comp, 5.9 Y/REC, 2 INT, 4 PBU; Jamare Glasker (Maryland)- 50.0% comp, 13.0 Y/REC, 4 INT, 5 PBU; Zeke Berry (Michigan)- 59.6% comp, 11.6 Y/REC, 1 INT, 10 PBU
3rd Team: Brandon Finney Jr.* (Oregon)- 34.2% comp, 15.4 Y/REC, 1 INT, 3 PBU; Smiley Bradford (Purdue)- 71.4% comp, 10.0 Y/REC, 1 INT, 6 PBU; Davison Igbinosun (Ohio State)- 40.0% comp, 10.4 Y/REC, 1 INT, 5 INT
I start from scratch every week and I’m not sure what happened this week but I ended up making 4 changes to the overall members of the all-conference team here which is a lot this late in the season. Bradford/Igbinosun make the list for the first team getting to the 3rd team while Glasker/Berry have been on before but ascend to 2nd team.
Safety
1st Team: Bishop Fitzgerald* (USC)- 53 tackles, 13 stops, 5 INT, 3 PBU; Amare Ferrell (Indiana)- 35 tackles, 19 stops, 4 INT, 7 PBU
2nd Team: Caleb Downs* (Ohio State)- 54 tackles, 4 TFL, 30 stops, 2 INT; Robert Fitzgerald* (Northwestern)- 114 tackles, 40 stops, 1 INT
3rd Team: Alex McLaughlin* (Washington)- 93 tackles, 36 stops, 2 INT, 6 PBU; Louis Moore* (Indiana)- 66 tackles, 18 stops, 5 INT, 2 PBU
It has been a tough battle all season long at the safety spot but this is what I’m going with for my final list.
Team Standings
3 points for 1st team, 2 points for 2nd team, 1 point for 3rd team (last edition rank in parentheses)
This time we’ll do it a little different. This first set of rankings is for the end of regular season totals but below that I’ll also put the cumulative standings from me doing this exercise every week. I’ve only been posting articles every other week but I still go through the process of determining my 1st, 2nd, and 3rd team picks and have been recording those totals every week.
End of Regular Season (Week 14) Totals:
- Ohio State- 22 points (2)
- Indiana- 19 points (1)
- Iowa- 19 points (3)
- Oregon- 15 points (4)
- USC- 8 points (7)
- Penn State- 7 points (13)
- Northwestern- 7 points (8)
- Maryland- 6 points (5)
- Michigan- 6 points (6)
- Rutgers- 6 points (9)
- Illinois- 5 points (10)
- Nebraska- 4 points (14)
- Minnesota- 3 points (11)
- Washington- 3 points (12)
- Michigan State- 3 points (16)
- Wisconsin- 3 points (17)
- UCLA- 1 point (15)
- Purdue- 1 point (18)
Cumulative Seasons Totals (weeks 2 through 14):
- Indiana- 229 points
- Iowa- 209 points
- Ohio State- 185 points
- USC- 159 points
- Oregon- 145 points
- Maryland- 137 points
- Michigan- 92 points
- Washington- 91 points
- Illinois- 91 points
- Rutgers- 89 points
- Penn State- 69 points
- Northwestern- 60 points
- Minnesota- 58 points
- Nebraska- 50 points
- Michigan State- 42 points
- UCLA- 36 points
- Wisconsin- 32 points
- Purdue- 16 points